Definition
Dissociative amnesia is the inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is not explained by ordinary forgetting or neurological disease.
Why it matters
Dissociative amnesia is a legitimate and evidence-based clinical phenomenon, often misunderstood in both popular culture and legal contexts.
The Science
Dissociative amnesia has been documented across cultures and clinical settings. Its neural correlates involve altered hippocampal-cortical processing during encoding under overwhelming stress.
The NSI Perspective
NSI treats dissociative amnesia as an intelligent protective response of a nervous system that could not fully metabolize what happened.
Clinical Implications
Careful, non-suggestive clinical work is essential. Recovered memories are neither automatically true nor automatically false.
Practical Application
If there are gaps in your memory of hard periods, that is often the nervous system’s work — not defect.
References
- 1.Loewenstein RJ. Dissociation debates: everything you know is wrong. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2018;20(3):229–242.